1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a bracket for mounting a drive device within a computer, and, more particularly, to a bracket in which a CD ROM drive is mounted within a bay without access to screws conventionally used to install the drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typical computer systems include a number of device bays, in which drive devices are mounted by installation from the front of the system. Such drive devices include floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, and CD ROM drives. Often, these bays do not provide access to insert screws to engage the threaded mounting holes provided within the drive devices. While these mounting holes are typically provided along the left and right sides of the drive device, and often also along the bottom surface of the drive device, in many computing systems the bays only provide for attachment access from the front of the system. Therefore, a number of adapters have been devised to fasten to various of the threaded mounting holes, of a drive device, with the device attached to the adapter being installed from the front of the computer system. For example, a slide may be screwed to each side of a drive device, with the frame surfaces forming the drive bay being adapted for sliding engagement with the slides on opposite sides of the drive device.
As the size of drive devices has been substantially reduced, the size of screws used with the threaded mounting holes in the drive devices has been reduced, and the locations of such holes has often become increasingly inconvenient. Both of these factors make it increasingly difficult to fasten adapters to the drive devices using screws. Thus, what is needed is a method for fastening an adapter to a drive device without using screws.
The patent literature includes a number of example of brackets or other forms of adapters facilitating the installation of a drive device into a bay extending inward from the front of a computer system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,804 describes a bracket, generally formed as a channel having a partly open top, for securing a computer drive within a housing. The bracket includes a number of holes for attaching the drive device within the bracket. As the bracket is slid into the housing, tabs within the housing, formed inward and extending opposite the direction in which the bracket is inserted, engage holes within the bracket, while tabs within the bracket, formed outward and extending in the direction in which the bracket is inserted, engage holes within the housing. Other examples of brackets or adapters for mounting drive devices in bays extending inward from a front of a computer are, in which conventional mounting screw arrangements are used to attach a drive device within the bracket or adapter, are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,654,874, and 5,818,689, in European Patent Application EP0831388, and in Japanese Patent Applications 3-224021 and 6-125184. What is needed is a bracket in which it is not necessary to use screws for attachment to the drive device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,291 describes a bracket formed as a carrier including a number of dowels that align with pre-existing screw holes within a computer device, such as a floppy disk drive, for securing the drive device within the carrier. When the drive device is placed into the carrier, a first dowel attached to the bottom panel of the carrier is inserted into a first screw hole of the device, partly securing the device to the carrier. The device is further secured to the carrier when both the device and the carrier together are inserted into a computer bay. As the carrier enters the computer bay, a second dowel flexibly attached to a side panel of the carrier is inserted into a second screw hole of the device. Therefore, whenever the device and the carrier are in the computer bay, the device is completely secured to the carrier. A potential limitation of this method arises from its reliance on the locations of holes in different surfaces of the drive device. Changes in the relative positions of such holes or shifting of the drive device within the carrier as the carrier is inserted may prevent the second dowel or additional dowels from being properly inserted within the drive device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,480 describes a rectangular box structure in which a data storage device such as a tape drive is suspended. The box structure, which is secured within a computer housing, provides resilient leaf springs on a bottom wall and protrusions on a top wall for clasping the data storage drive unit within the box structure. The top, bottom, and side walls of the box structure are used together to create a resilient suspension for the data storage drive unit. Limitations of this structure arise from the fact that surfaces of the drive unit other than mounting holes are used to locate the drive unit within the box structure; these surfaces need to be repeatable from one drive unit to another, and differing types of drive units are not allowed to extend outside the box structure. Also, since resilient mounting does not locate the drive unit as accurately as mounting holes, problems may arise at a slot through which storage media is inserted.
European Patent Application EP0834880 describes a mounting arrangement for a drive unit in a desk top computer, which does not require the use of tools. The mounting arrangement employs two side members provided with studs that engage in side mounting holes conventionally provided within the drive unit. With the side members placed about the drive unit, the resultant assembly can be slid into position in a support structure along guides that also serve to hold the side members against the drive unit. In a preferred embodiment, the side members take the form of a wall element made of a plastic material and a U-shaped metal mounting element. On one side the mounting element has a projection that forms one of the side-member studs engaging the fixing holes of the drive unit. On the other side, the mounting element has a resilient contact arm providing a grounding connection to the support structure. This method has limitations associated with requiring that the studs on each side must each be inserted in a direction perpendicular to the adjacent side wall of the drive unit. Thus, the side members are either provided as two separate pieces, or as members of a single piece in which the side members are joined by a flexible bridge element, which must be bent substantially to allow the studs to enter all of the mounting holes. What is needed is a one-piece fastening mechanism allowing the movement of studs into mounting holes without requiring substantial bending of the adapter bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,099 describes a computer having a mounting bracket, mounted to the chassis, for receiving a first disk drive and a mounting plate for receiving a second disk drive mounted relative to the bracket and to the chassis. The first drive unit is mounted in a conventional manner, with screws extending through the bottom plate of the mounting bracket, while the second disk drive is mounted by means of tabs extending upward and inward from the mounting plate along one side of the disk drive to engage mounting holes within the disk drive, and by means of tabs extending upward along the other side of the disk drive to hold screws fastened into the disk drive. Again, what is needed is a mounting method avoiding the need to use screws. Furthermore, since both the mounting bracket and the mounting plate are configured for attachment from above, this apparatus cannot be used to install disk drives into bays extending inward from the front of a computer, in which access from the top is not available.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,459 describes an installation kit for installing a disk drive into a larger disk drive bay. This kit includes a form factor adapter comprising a pair of side brackets which engage with a front plate to form an internal space. The disk drive inserts into the internal space, and a clip is used to secure the disk drive in place. The clip engages with the side brackets, so that no fasteners are required to secure the disk drive to the adapter. A limitation of this method arises from the fact that the clip engages the disk drive along its sidewalls, without extending into any holes or other alignment surfaces of the disk drive. Thus, friction alone is relied upon to hold the drive in place within the adapter in a front-to-rear direction. Clearance holes are provided for redundant use in mounting the disk drive within the side brackets. What is needed is a mounting method engaging at least certain mounting holes without a need to install screws.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bracket for installing, within a computer housing, a drive device, having first and second mounting surfaces extending parallel to each other along opposite sides of a portion of the drive device and an upper surface extending adjacent the second mounting surface, in which the bracket includes a lower panel, first and second side panels, a first pin, first and second biasing springs, and an upper locating surface. The lower panel has first and second edges extending parallel to each other at opposite sides of the lower panel. The first side panel extends along the first edge of the lower pane. The second side panel extends along the second edge of the lower panel. The first pin extends inward from the first side panel for engaging a first mounting hole within the first mounting surface of the drive device. The first biasing spring extends inward from the second panel for engaging the second mounting surface of the drive device to hold the first mounting hole in engagement with the first pin. The upper locating surface extends from the second side panel adjacent the upper surface of the drive device. The second biasing spring extends upward from the lower surface for holding the upper surface of the drive device in engagement with the upper locating surface.